More on Drought Management

Last month's storms in and around Phoenix have not ameliorated the state's water problem much. If anything, they've only prevented a bleaker situation from developing:

A dismal snow season will leave Arizona's rivers flowing at nearly record-low levels this spring, choking off water to reservoirs and rural communities that rely on shallow wells.

Runoff into most rivers will fall below 30 percent of normal, according to hydrologists. The Salt River near Roosevelt is forecast to receive barely 20 percent of its expected snowmelt, and the Little Colorado River near Woodruff could wind up with just 7 percent of its normal runoff.

The picture would have been grimmer still without the rain and snow from a series of March storms, which will likely keep this winter from going into the books as the driest on record. It could still end as the second- or third-driest on some rivers.


Runoff from high-country snow provides Arizona rivers with as much as 70 percent of their annual flow, which means if there is no snow, some of those rivers will shrink to a trickle or less by the start of summer.

Valley water sources are in good condition despite the dry winter. Heavy rain and snow in early 2005 filled in-state reservoirs, and the Colorado River system is expected to receive normal runoff for a second year.

But farmers as close as Pinal County will face tight irrigation supplies, and some mountain communities are already anticipating possible shortages.

Then again, it's a desert.